The Harmony Historic District encompasses the first early 19th century settlement of the

Harmony Society The Harmony Society was a Christian theosophy and pietist society founded in Iptingen, Germany, in . Due to religious persecution by the Lutheran Church and the government in Württemberg, the group moved to the United States,Robert Paul Sutto ...

, in what is now

Harmony In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. However ...

Butler County, Pennsylvania Butler County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is part of Western Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 193,763. Its county seat is Butler. Butler County was created on March 12, 1800, from part of Alleghe ...

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. It covers an area two blocks wide, extending north from German Road to Conoquenessing Creek between Liberty and Wood Streets. The area retains a number of buildings dating to the original settlement period, and was designated a

National Historic Landmark District National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

in 1974.

Description and history

The Harmony Society was founded in what is now

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

in 1785 by Johann Georg Rapp. Meeting with opposition from the dominant Lutheran Church, Rapp and his followers emigrated to North America, and purchased the land in Butler County where the community of 200 families founded Harmony in 1805. The

utopian community An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, religious, ...

was run as a communist theocracy, with Rapp and later his son as its leading figure. The Harmonist community was successful, growing to about 700 by 1814, when Rapp's son Frederick established a new settlement in the

Indiana Territory The Indiana Territory, officially the Territory of Indiana, was created by a United States Congress, congressional act that President of the United States, President John Adams signed into law on May 7, 1800, to form an Historic regions of the U ...

, now

New Harmony, Indiana New Harmony is a historic town on the Wabash River in Harmony Township, Posey County, Indiana. It lies north of Mount Vernon, the county seat, and is part of the Evansville metropolitan area. The town's population was 789 at the 2010 census. Es ...

. They eventually moved back to Pennsylvania, settling

Economy An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the ...

in 1825, and died out as an organization in 1905. and The surviving elements of the early Harmonist settlement include a grid of streets in the heart of the modern town of Harmony, and a number of primarily brick buildings in that area. The district includes ten contributing buildings and one contributing site. Principal among these are the George Rapp House, Great House or Bentle Building (c. 1811), Langenbacher House (c. 1805), Harmonist Church (1808), The "Stohr," Beam Hotel, Frederick Rapp House, Schmitt House, Jacob Neff House (c.1807), Schreiber House, Wagner House, and Mueller House. The original Harmonist Cemetery contains the unmarked graves of 100 early Harmonists.

References

External links

Harmony Museum
in the Great House {{National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania National Historic Landmarks in Pennsylvania Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Geography of Butler County, Pennsylvania Museums in Butler County, Pennsylvania History museums in Pennsylvania Religious museums in Pennsylvania 1804 establishments in Pennsylvania National Register of Historic Places in Butler County, Pennsylvania

Description and history

See also

References

External links